Urbanites +
SpaceChase is a software research and development project by Urban Atölye, produced under the ARDEB 1001 program of TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey), project no. 119M082, under the title Mekan Dizimi Tasarım Uygulaması. The project is a collaboration between Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul Bilgi University and Urban Atölye, and has been available as a Grasshopper plugin for Rhino since 2021. SpaceChase brings Space Syntax theory into the architectural design process as a generative and interactive tool, rather than a purely analytical one. Where existing Space Syntax software is primarily built to measure and decode spatial configurations that already exist, SpaceChase asks how graph-based spatial thinking can be used to produce new layout possibilities in real time.
The plugin introduces a "dynamic canvas" model that combines Space Syntax analysis with Kangaroo, a physics simulation engine within Grasshopper, to produce an interactive, physics-based environment for layout generation. Designers can define spatial units and the relationships between them as nodes and edges, calculate Space Syntax metrics such as connectivity, integration and depth directly within the model, and manipulate the graph dynamically through node and link manager interfaces. The output is always structured in native Rhino and Grasshopper data types, keeping the tool open to combination with more advanced parametric workflows rather than locking users into preset visualizations.
The research behind SpaceChase draws on a long-standing interest in network thinking at Urban Atölye, with precedents going back to relational mapping work at Bakırköy Psychiatric Hospital in 2008 and Istanbul bus network analyses in 2013, and formalized through several academic papers on network thinking in architectural design and dynamic canvas modeling. The project's central argument is that spatial layout design, understood as the organization of relationships between spaces rather than the configuration of geometries, benefits from tools that make those relationships measurable, manipulable and productive at the same time. SpaceChase 2 is currently in development, with a beta program open for applications. Stay tuned for updates on spacechase.app/
In collaboration with
RESEARCH TEAM
Pelin Dursun Çebi, Project Head
Nilüfer Kozikoğlu, Project Co-Coordinator
Tuğrul Yazar, Project Co-Coordinator
Oğulcan Üneşi, Researcher
Büşra Balaban, Researcher
Melike Sena Erden, Researcher
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